Simulation Technology for Railway Vehicle Dynamics

Railway vehicles must have high kinematic performance, which is evaluated in terms of running stability, curve negotiating ability, and ride quality, and to improve this performance, it is essential to adequately design the characteristics of the spring systems of bogies. In addition to tests on real vehicles, computer simulation is effective at enhancing the vehicle performance by adequately evaluating the characteristics of spring systems in the design stage. First, this study presents the characteristics of computer simulation for railway applications and related evaluation technologies, and then, as examples of simulation technology of the company, evaluation of the kinematic performance of the bogies for the linear-motor metro transport system, and estimation of the bending stress on wheel axles for vehicles for conventional lines.